Ben is a student on the UK’s first esports degree at Staffordshire University. Alongside writing, Ben is a CS:GO caster under the pseudonym ‘Protalis’. He has worked with the National University Esports League to provide coverage for their CS:GO division. Twitter @Protalis22

CSGO: Day 4 Takeaways from the Berlin Major

Day 4 of the Legends stage today and saw some very interesting best-of-three action.

Records were broken today at the Legends Stage of the StarLadder Major. Astralis and Cr4zy broke the record for the longest-running game at a CS:GO Major, beating Flipside’s record from the Columbus Major. Aside from that, there are other notable things that we’ve learned from today’s play.

Astralis are past their prime

It’s been apparent for a while that Astralis haven’t been at the same level of form since winning the IEM Katowice Major. Their chance of defending back-to-back Majors continue to look slim, as evidenced by their series against the European mix Cr4zy. In a record-breaking 60 round game, Cr4zy managed to take Dust 2 from the Danes 31-29. Despite following up with a quick and easy Vertigo, finishing their series 2-1, it is apparent that the Astralis roster isn’t capable of what it used to be.

Astralis would never have come close to struggling in a series against a roster of Cr4zy’s caliber.

Regardless of external pressures or perceptions, Astralis have made it to the quarterfinals of the Berlin Major and guaranteed themselves Legends status once again. However, the most difficult stages of the tournament still lie ahead.

FaZe need a fundamental change

The all-star European FaZe Clan have been eliminated from the StarLadder Major by Renegades, finishing 1-3 in the Legends stage. FaZe’s defeat is particularly gut-wrenching for Swedish counterstrike legend Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer who was one of the best performers on the European side, earning 83 kills and an HLTV rating of 1.37 in the series. FaZe’s defeat means that Kajbjer has broken a career string of Legends qualifications at Majors and has now missed out on his first-ever Legend placing in his CS:GO history.

As for the wider FaZe roster since Karrigan’s departure, things haven’t looked great for the side. A string of disappointing performances, considering the caliber of players on the roster, and several temporary roster alterations mean that FaZe need a change. Rumors have suggested that FaZe have considered enquiring into Marcelo “coldzera” David, however, external business factors appear to suggest that the organization would not be willing to allocate the resources for his buyout. This leaves FaZe’s CS:GO side in an ever more turbulent state as Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács appears to be in the final stages of his playing career.